damned_institute | Day 63: Tasty Burger (Early Afternoon)

The antiques store hadn't turned out to be as interesting as Castiel had expected, mainly because it seemed that the items, old as some of them might be, had all been completely clean of any magical signature. While Castiel knew that it was backwards to be trying to make more trouble for himself, that would have at least been a problem he could have dealt with.

Unlike the pounding in his head and the weakness of this human body. Unlike the fact that he had been confined here against all logic, drained of what made him divine.

And yet he still had to proceed through the day. When he exited the antiques store, Castiel found that the weather had worsened. The wind blew through his hair and clothing, filling him with the kind of chill that he wasn't accustomed to. He decided to move on quickly, seeing that he'd acquired that hollow feeling in his stomach that meant he needed to eat. So much upkeep for these human bodies, and even with all of that, it still wasn't functioning properly.

He hadn't forgotten the burger restaurant that he had eaten at with Dean last week. It also hadn't slipped his notice that he hadn't seen any sign of Sam and Dean yet today. Castiel was getting that odd sinking feeling, that something had happened and he'd been powerless to do anything about it. It was supposed to be his task to keep them safe, and yet this place had stripped him of the ability to do so.

It wasn't wise to jump to any conclusions, and yet it was hard not to. With a sigh, he entered the restaurant and stood in line, staring down at his coupon. Maybe he wanted to use some of the money he'd been given to get two burgers -- one didn't seem like enough.

[For Johnny.]

Johnny had been more than happy to just wander around all day and, in fact, he'd spent a large amount of his time in the park. It had been nice to sit there in the daytime with no fear of burning in the sunlight or being hunted by a demon determined to ruin his life. Just him, the birds, the wind, and the occasional passerby....and his growling stomach.

That wasn't something horrifically unfamiliar to him...he just hadn't gotten used to how frequently he needed to eat as a human and the fact that, when he thought about what sounded good to eat, blood was the last thing he wanted.

Well, there was only one thing to do now: explore that fast food place he'd been given a coupon for. It was almost exciting: the thought of actual fast food. He'd had the stuff before, in an attempt to assuage his own curiosity, but this time he'd be able to actually enjoy it like a human would.

Luck seemed to be on his side today;not only was there tasty food in here, but right in front of him was a rather tasty looking man, too. He slipped on an easy smirk and made a show of peering at the menu over the man's shoulder and then at the coupon in his hand. "Aaah...these human things are sooo confusing~" And a pout...for extra effect. Damsel in Distress was one of his favorite attention ploys.

Yet again, he was being approached. Castiel's first instinct was to go on the defensive, a soldier's instincts kicking in. More than that, he was struck for the second time today by that sense that the person speaking with him wasn't entirely human, and that was always a reason to be on high alert.

He turned to look at the man who had crept up behind him, and blinked in slight surprise when he realized that he only wanted a look at the menu. Castiel tried to shuffle to the side in order to give him a clear view.

Was it that confusing? The menu had pictures, so all one really needed to do was point to what they wanted. But if the stranger -- who had immediately admitted to not being human -- was that confused, then... Well, Castiel could relate in some ways.

"Did you need it explained to you?" he asked with a frown. While he was clueless about a number of human things, fast food was not one of them. He had Famine to thank for that.

Johnny turned his confused expression from the menu to the attractive man, internally proud of how perfectly that had worked. "Aahh...if it's not too much trouble, could you? I'm afraid I'm just not used to these sort of places." Not a complete lie, he'd only been to a fast food joint once and it was back when those kinds of places had first opened, he hadn't ever had reason to go back since then. Whenever Charley had taken them places, Johnny had made a point to give local cuisine a try, as silly and pointless as his partner deemed it, if only to satisfy his own cat-like curiosity. Seldom had those 'excursions' included local 'cheap food.'

The smells and sounds of the place were making him crave those foods Cherry had scoffed at before. And, although he understood the menu perfectly well, he turned his full attention to the man who he'd 'asked' for help, as if he were about to read Johnny the gospel.

Not used to them? Castiel could understand, as he hadn't been until an unnatural hunger had forced him to learn. Now he had a strange fondness for these establishments, although if he was going to eat at such a place he would have preferred that it was on his own terms. But there was no point in dwelling on that now.

He took out his coupon book, flipping to the one that was for this place so that he could show the stranger. "We've been given a voucher that allows us one Tasty Meal from this place," he explained. "That includes one of the hamburgers, a side order of french fries, and a drink. There's also the option of ice cream for dessert." It was all spelled out there, but if this man was truly confused, then there was no harm in repeating it for his benefit.

That was about all the time that he had to explain, though, as they'd reached the front of the line and he was being called up to the counter. Castiel moved forward stiffly, presenting his coupon to the woman at the register. Although he still couldn't shake the feeling that two burgers would be more filling, and seeing how he was feeling ill, the extra energy could help.

"I'd also like an extra Tasty Burger," he told her as he pulled out his spending card and handed it over.

After the excitement, disappointment, and all around weirdness at the corral, Rainbow headed off in a huff. Her stomach was rumbling at this point, and if the Institute was going to give her coupons for food, then dang it, she might as well use them, she figured.

"Can't believe he was right," Rainbow grumbled to herself as she rounded onto Main Street. The first of the places listed on her coupons, Tasty Burger, came into view and she half-stomped her way inside. "Stuffy was right. They don't talk here. Why can't they talk?" She crossed her arms as she joined the line for food. That mare hadn't said a word the whole time. Hadn't even given a hint that she had understood Rainbow or the other two. But that just couldn't be. What was going on in that mare's brain if not... well, brain stuff?

[Hakkai]

It was getting well into lunch time now, and Hakkai found, with some chagrin, that his stomach was growling. Hopefully the town would have a few more choices in dining than the cafeteria had. He flipped through the coupons he'd been given, and found some that looked like restaurants - though he wasn't sure he was in the mood to sit at a table by himself and eat. Tasty Burger - that had the kind of bright, peppy logo that would have appealed instantly to Goku. Maybe that would be a little more relaxed. And it wasn't too far away, either.

He headed into the building - and yes, this was definitely a bit more informal than most restaurants he'd been in, though without any of the dark seediness that a bar would have. He got into the line that was forming by the counter, and then spotted a familiar shock of rainbow-colored hair, not far in front of him. "Rainbow! Good afternoon."

Rainbow was brought out of her confusion by the sound of a familiar voice. "Oh! Hey, Hawkeye. How's it hanging?" she asked with a casual smile, though it retained some of that troubled look she had just been wearing. "Found anything worth doing around here?"

Hakkai could tell she seemed... a little upset, perhaps, but was trying to hide it. With all the other people here, though, it wasn't something he was going to ask her about in line. Maybe after they got food.

"Mm, mostly just been walking - it's nice to have some space. Though it did make me hungry - did you come in for lunch too?"

"Guess I did. Can't break out of this place on an empty stomach, right?" Rainbow answered with a somewhat strained laugh. How much of the day was gone already?

Rainbow handed over her coupons at the front of the line, and waited next to Hakkai for them to bring her her food. "And I totally get you about the whole having space thing. I only wish I still had all the space in the sky too! Being stuck on the ground is so...! Rrrgh! I don't even know a word for it!"

She had an excellent point there, though Hakkai would not have said it out loud. Not when there were so many people to eavesdrop. Food was a necessity of life, and no food meant poor thinking and planning - which meant mistakes.

The continuation of her little rant surprised him, but - he didn't trust the people behind the counters. He wasn't going to say anything strange in front of them, anything that could be used against them. Instead, once their trays of food came, he took his and head for a quiet, out of the way table, and motioned for her to follow. Once they were seated - "You could fly, before?"

Rainbow hadn't been thinking about how her words might have sounded to the other humans around. Self-censorship had never been a strong suit of hers, here or back home. It was only after Hawkeye stayed strangely quiet after ordering that she started to get the sense that she probably ought to shut her trap. She doubted the gangly human teens behind the counter could do much to hurt them, but if Hawkeye was worried, then Rainbow could take the hint and respect what he wanted. For now, anyway.

And "for now" didn't last too long, as it turned out. Once at the table, the question of flying was broached, and all bets were off. "Could I fly?" Rainbow grinned ear to ear. If there was one topic that could get her going. "Are you kidding? I'm one of the best fliers in all of Equestria! You're talking to the only pegasus to ever pull off a sonic rainboom! Twice! You should see me sometime!"

Ah, clearly he'd stumbled on a topic close to her heart. He gave her a warm smile, unwrapping the thin paper on his food. "I'm sure you're quite impressive - but you can't do it here, right?" From that conversation on the bulletin board a few days ago, people who hadn't been human before were, now. And he was tentatively willing to accept Rainbow's claim that she was one of that category. Though... it was strange that he had retained his own powers, then. But that had been true before, as well. Not quite human, but not fully youkai. And probably wanted by neither.

The smile fell a little as that thought crossed his mind, and then he caught himself, the calm, cheerful facade slipping back into place.

From 60 to 0 in less than a second, Rainbow started uncrumpling the paper on her own burger, almost seeming to get some relief out of mangling the thin material. "Exactly! You bet I was impressive, and it's the was that gets me so fired up! You know how fast I could go back home? How high? Being stuck here is like— like...! Ugh, like I might as well be stuck as a snail or something!"

She sighed hotly, taking an indignant bite out of the burger. "...Huh. Well they don't lie about it being tasty," she grumbled, taking another few bites right on the last one's heels. It really was good. What was in this thing anyway, she wondered?

Hakkai was somewhat more sedate about picking up his burger and biting into it - though he had to admit it was pretty tasty. "Mmm, true." Having something to do was a distraction from his negative thoughts, at least, even if it was just food.

"I... still have my powers, here. I wonder why things change for some of us and not for others," he mused aloud.

She had been about to say that "true" wasn't even the half of it when Hawkeye said something that interested her. "Wait, you have your powers? Like, all of them?" she asked, at rapt attention now. How much could Hawkeye still do? Did that mean that there might yet still be something left for her, even in this body?

Hakkai nodded, chewing the bite of his burger and swallowing before he spoke again. "As far as I can tell. Though I haven't tried to heal anyone since arriving here, so I'm not sure if I can still do that." But he could fight, and shield, and... change, if he wanted.

"Whoa, you can heal people?" Now it was Rainbow's turn to be impressed. Not even Twilight could do that, or if she could, she'd never done it on her friends before. "I'd break a wi— uh, an arm to help you try it out, but I kiiiinda doubt that'd be fun for either of us," she said with a wry grin.

"That's alright - if I never have to use it, so much the better," Hakkai replied with a smile. It really was better if people didn't get hurt in the first place. "It's a bit tiring, too." Burger finished, he went for the fries next. "I suspect being able to fly is much more exciting, anyway"

Rainbow had a laugh at that, for which she was thankful to Hawkeye. "Well that's something you'd suspect right on!" she said, eyes turning toward the window. She stared out at the swiftly moving clouds, almost able to feel the wind in her mane from where they sat. Of course, that may have been because the air conditioning had just switched on, but whatever, she would take what she could get.

"Anything else you can do with your powers?" she asked after the moment had passed, eager to hear all about what her new friend could do.

Hakkai was glad Rainbow was looking a little more upbeat than she had in the line. "I can make blasts of energy, and barriers to protect people or hold things up." He grinned, and then laughed, a little sheepishly. "Aha, there might be more. I've kind of just learned how to do that by experimenting."

Coolness meters: shooting way way up.

"Aw man, that sounds pretty awesome! I have a friend named Twilight who can do magic like that," said Rainbow, resting her elbows on the table and leaning her chin on the backs of her hands. "She can do tons of other things too, like move around places in the wink of an eye, or change stuff into other stuff. Maybe you can do things like that too if you experiment more!"

"Mmm, maybe," Hakkai replied. "Though like I said, it's just extending my own lifeforce, so it's, mmm... an application of raw power, really. Barriers are the only things I've figured out how to shape out of it." His youkai powers - those were something else entirely, something he'd never seen in any of their foes, and he had no idea what it meant.

"Though moving things - that might be worth trying. Energy blasts are a rather... destructive way of making space."

He pulled himself out of his own contemplation for a moment. "What about you? Not that flying isn't impressive enough on it's own, but you seem like you have more tricks up your sleeve."

A little while of wandering later and Utena was definitely ready for some lunch. Her go-to place for that in Doyleton was Tasty Burger, and so to Tasty Burger she went. She had to admit, she felt kind of bad for choosing that every time; it had to be bad for her. But, as the name implied, their stuff was pretty darn tasty, especially for a small-town fast food place.

Betting I'll burn off the extra pounds during nightshift anyway, she thought as she got into line. She brushed her teeth on the inside of her lip. Now that was an unexpected downer thought. Well, maybe not so much unexpected (it was Landel's) but definitely unwanted.

Once she had the meal her coupon entitled her to, Utena parked herself over at a table. For once, she started with her ice cream first. If there was one thing she had learned so far in her time here, it was that keeping her spirits up was important, and damn it, starting lunch with desert was a pretty good way to do that.

[Hijikata]

When it came to finding food, Hijikata had based his decision on two things. Where his little slips of paper would get him a meal, and what was closest to where he was now. Which was how he ended up in Tasty Burger, looking none too pleased about it.

But food was food. He'd done his best not to roll his eyes at anyone (hard, because he was impatient at the best of times, and his leg was screaming at him for all the walking he'd been doing) and collected his meal. He was going to find a nice corner to pick it apart in when some extra cranky muscle in his hip decided to knot up, and nearly sent him flat on his face. Instead, he managed to get himself, tray and all, rather gracelessly down at the nearest table with a muttered curse. It was only after the fact that he even noticed anyone else was there.

"Sorry." He didn't like making apologies, but in this instance, it was the least he could do for making a momentary spectacle of himself.

Utena was startled half out of her seat when someone nearby nearly fell at the next table over, and she was completely out of her seat even as the man managed to sit himself down. "No, don't be sorry. Are you okay? That looked like it really could've hurt," she said, her ice cream and nightshift troubles forgotten for the moment as she walked the few steps between the two tables.

Edited 2012-04-24 01:33 (UTC)

Why couldn't he nearly topple over by someone who wouldn't care? Because that would have been too easy, probably. Instead, he grit his teeth and stared hard at the table top for a long moment. "I'll be fine." As soon as his leg stopped hurting. Which it probably wasn't going to do for awhile, but at least now he was sitting down, so falling over wouldn't be a problem.

Utena frowned, a hand settling on her hip as she eyed the older guy. "Didn't look fine to me. You sure? Did something happen?" she asked. She doubted anyone in Landel's could seriously say that nothing had happened to them, even when they didn't have a leg that just seemed to seize up randomly. Heck, just arriving in Landel's had to be classed as some kind of trauma.

Regardless, she waited for an answer, and she wasn't going to be satisfied if the man just kept dodging her concern. If there was one thing she hated (and if everything to do with Landel's and Ohtori's dueling game didn't count), it was people not taking care of themselves.

Someone save him from demanding girls. It wasn't going to happen, of course, and he could almost hear a certain someone in the back of his head chiding him to be nice. He was pretty sure he couldn't manage nice, but he'd try not to scare her off too badly. Not that she seemed the scaring type.

"Something tried pulling my leg off the other night," he grumbled finally. He wasn't going to mention that 'something' was a plant. It was embarrassing enough as it was. "It'll heal."

Eventually. Hopefully. He really didn't want to be limping around for the rest of his life.

No Peter. No Indy. Not even Ramona. This day was just getting better and better.

Scott had no qualms about using his extra cash to get himself a big helping of extra food. There was only one thing that he wanted in the world right now more than the people close to him being okay, and that was to drown his sorrows. And since he didn't drink, a large soda and a big greasy hamburger were the next best things to do that with. He was almost expecting the teenager at the counter to ask "Think you've had enough, sir?" Too bad he didn't, Scott thought. He had always wanted to say "I'll tell you when I've had enoughffrfrmble...!" to someone.

He chose a table by the window, brushing a grease-encrusted newspaper off onto the seat across from him. "Oh processed food, only you know how I feel right now," he mumbled to himself before biting down on a fry.

[Firo]

It was a bit past noon when Firo's stomach started growling. At the rate the day was going, it would already be time to go back to that prison-like hospital before he knew it, so grabbing lunch before it was too late was sounding like a really good idea. Last week, he'd stopped at Twin Pines to eat; it had been good, but he was curious about the other place he had a coupon for—'Tasty Burger'. A name like that was a pretty bold proclamation; he wondered whether it was really accurate, or simply conceit.

The restaurant turned out to be different than Firo had expected, but... Well, the real test would be the food. He was given his order quickly after surrendering his coupon, at which point he was left to find a place to sit.

Firo had started walking towards the sides of the seating area when he spotted Scott, sitting alone. The last time they'd spoken the other man had been obviously distracted (by his lady friend), but today...

He headed for Scott, coming to a stop by the table and glancing briefly at the newspaper that was resting in one of the seats. "Mind if I join you?"

Scott lifted his head. A familiar-ish voice? He blinked as he looked up. "Firo?" After a moment, Scott nodded slowly. "Sure. Make yourself at home. Pull up a chair by the fire," he said, gesturing (more like half-gesturing) to the seat across from him.

"...So how's things?" he asked, not sure what else to say now that his moping had been interrupted.

Firo set down his tray on the table to free his hands, and then gingerly removed the rather unpleasant-looking newspaper from the seat, setting it aside.

He waited until he was settled in the seat across from Scott before answering the question he'd been posed, thinking things over. It had only been a couple of days since he'd last talked with Scott, but he really hadn't done much of anything in that span. He'd been resting at night instead of venturing out, which had the upside of not getting ambushed, but...

"Better," he answered truthfully after the pause. "And you? Is your girl doing alright?" If Ennis were here he'd be out of his mind with worry, even though he knew she could handle herself in a fight.

Scott let out a little snuf from his nose when Firo said things were better for him. "Least someone's doing better. That's good." He wasn't being entirely facetious with that remark; he was honestly relieved that not everyone was being driven into the ground right now. Meant that he could hold onto some hope that maybe Landel would let up on him and give someone else a turn sometime.

He shrugged when the question turned to him. "Ramona? Don't know. Haven't seen her today," he said, poking at his fries with another fry. She was probably still back at the Institute, he told himself. Probably.

Scott pushed two fries together at the edge of the cheap cardboard fry pod. "Kinda hoping at this point that she's just got Landel's Sleeping Sickness, or whatever it is that makes people lose days around here." His eyes were lidded as he lifted one of the two fries out of the fry pod and popped it in his mouth. "Not really crazy about the alternatives..."

Ahh... Halfway through the day, and Mikado's stomach was growling fiercely. He had the faint memory of not eating what was handed out this morning, and he couldn't remember if he had actually eaten dinner last night. The coupons in his hand solved the problem either way, and he found his way to one of the places to eat with little trouble. An... American burger place, but he supposed that shouldn't be a surprise.

His gaze settled on the menu to contemplate his choices as he waited in the line. There were more than a few in front of him, but it seemed to be at least moving quickly. Maybe he should go with the whole experience, and do a burger and fries. He'd tried them before, with Masaomi, but here was a genuine American meal...!

Someone who had just received their food passed him and he looked sidelong at the tray. Were all... burgers that greasy?

[ not late for Snow... ]

It only took a day and a half, but it was finally starting to occur to Snow that no matter how much he distracted himself from it, he wasn't getting any less sick. Ignoring it wasn't going to make it go away. He was going to have to actually do something about it. Problem was he didn't really get sick all that often. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd caught something. So he really didn't know what it was he should be doing to fix it. Even if he had medicine available, he'd need someone to tell him which one he was supposed to be taking.

Well, his first thought went to food. He kind of remembered someone telling him something about drinking a lot or something way back when. And even if his stomach didn't feel great, he hadn't puked or anything. So eating was probably okay. This time, though, he was getting something that actually tasted good and didn't have little blue spots all over it. The last time he was here, he remembered that this place sold those really good yellow stick things that he liked, so this was where he headed immediately. And... whoa. The food must have been popular because there were a lot of people in here already. He sure hoped they didn't run out by the time it was his turn up.

He got on line immediately, pulling out his coupon thing to inspect it. ...Hmm. He wanted the yellow things, yeah. And a drink would be great as long as it wasn't that juice again. But he didn't really want that saucy sandwich thing. It was kinda gross. Maybe he could work something out with the cashier lady? Maybe he could get it without the sandwich. Or maybe substitute the sandwich for more yellow things so then he'd have tw--

"Oh! Hey, Ryuu!" In the middle of his musing, he suddenly realized he recognized the person standing in front of him on line. He only recognized him when he'd turned his head to look at someone walking by. "You're getting lunch here, too?!"

As his head swiveled to follow the individual with their tray, another countenance came into view. One Mikado was beginning to know well. Snow called out, and at the nickname-- Still -- Mikado internally grimaced. Did all people hate the nicknames they were given? "...Ryuugamine," he muttered quietly, half-assuming Snow would just flow over it. He was already becoming acclimated to Snow's personality, and a small part of his mind wondered if that was truly a good idea.

...At the least, Mikado thought. There was no point in holding to politeness to his normal standards with this person. So he nodded once instead of giving a full greeting. "I thought I would," he started, then eyed another tray. "But the burgers here don't seem... too healthy." He could eat junk food as much as the next teenager, but the amount of grease sopped from that one bun was pretty horrific. He looked up at the man, neck craning upward. "What were you planning to get, Snow-san?"

"Yeah?" he said, looking surprised by the assertion. Snow turned to look at another passer-by's tray of food as well, albeit far less subtly than Ryuu had. He really wasn't familiar with most of the food here at all. A lot of it looked weird and at least half was so bad that he couldn't even make himself choke it down. The idea of any of it being healthy or unhealthy hadn't crossed his mind at all, though. And he had no idea of even being able to tell even if it had. He wondered how Ryuu could even tell.

Despite his limited knowledge, though, he was going to make a wild guess and assume "burgers", the not-healthy thing, didn't apply to the things that he actually liked. Which he was immediately reminded of with Ryuu's question. At that, Snow turned his attention back to the kid and instantly lit up. "Ah! I was gonna get those yellow stick things! You know, the ones that usually come with the sandwich? They're really good! And they don't taste like they're not healthy at all!"

Day 63: Tasty Burger (Early Afternoon)

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